Keto Carb Numbers

[Blessings]

I have been trying to encorporate more of the healthy fats, like olive oils, coconut oil, avacodo, etc. I bought some MCT oil for my shakes. I just don’t think I can handle all the fattier foods I see people eating. I was on a thread where lots of people were posting what they ate for the day and I couldn’t imagine eating anywhere nearthe amounts and type of foods. I have tried to figure out my fats from other sources and better food choices, but I am having a hard time coming up with enough to fit in the high fat percentage. I believe I am in Ketosis now. I guess I am am having a hard time all around with trying to get my calories in, all while staying under carbs and getting the right fat and protein amounts.

[David_Stilley]

Started at less than 20, one year later still less than 20, when I get where I am going (dead) I will still be less than 20.

[KetoCancerMom]

I know many people here have trouble with dairy. That said, if dairy doesn’t bother you, and you can fit in the carbs…I usually drink 1/2 to 1 cup of heavy cream, flavored with an MCT powder. That gives me 450-900 (or so) calories and 40-80g of fat. I’m a small person already so I have to be creative in getting my fat in.

[Blessings]

Thanks! I am trying to stay at 20 myself.

[Blessings]

That makes sense. I have issues with some dairy, but not all. Thanks!

[PaulL]

• What was your carb number when you started Keto?

20 g/day

• How long from the start of Keto did you try to stay within that same number?

2-1/2 years

• What was your more perminate approximate carb number you settled for?

20 g/day

[Blessings]

So many seem to do good with 20. I was told not to go over 50 max, so I am maybe going to up it to 30. I will have to monitor my weight loss, as I move forward and make adjustments if needed. I did go as low as 14, but that was killing me. I couldn’t even find foods to eat barely, that would give me my nutrition and I felt so bad. I did eat some wheat bread today and it made me feel so much better. I hadn’t had bread in two weeks and all I wanted was to feel a little better

[Blessings]

I will be getting off the computer for the night to tend to something, but will respond to additional psots tomorrow. Didn’t want anyone to think I was ignoring them. Thanks for all your imputs.

[David_Stilley]

I started out eating quite a lot of vegetables. Eating a lot of vegetables makes everything harder. People always talk about moderate protein. I think it should be moderate vegetables, protein to satiety and adequate fat so you don’t end up in an energy slump. The amount of body fat we each have and other factors make the fat macro silly I think unless you have reached maintenance. It’s important to eat it daily but you shouldn’t try to hit an arbitrary number that a calculator gives you as if it’s written in stone. You have to figure it out that if you don’t include x amount of fat you feel sluggish because you won’t get much energy to burn from your carbs and protein and accessible body fat.

So for me it’s usually about 65-70% of my calories or 1000-1200 kcal. I don’t try to get to that number it just happens the way I eat, and I don’t slather fat on everything I eat. It’s just my food choices and limiting vegetables so I don’t fill up on vegetables before eating enough eggs, cheese and meat for the day. I feel fuller for longer and have lost more weight without lots of vegetables. I do enjoy the taste of them immensely though.

@Blessings Eating bread will give you relief from carb withdrawal but it won’t help you progress past the bad feelings in a helpful way. You need to stay less than 20g and keep Salt high and eat plenty of good food starting out to avoid feeling bad. Keep your hydration up. If you’re eating enough of the right foods it’s easy get fat in generous amounts. Here’s what I ate today for an example.

I set carb and protein macros to a upper limit, not a target and set my fat macro to zero. This was two meals, breakfast at 10am and supper at 2:30 pm. This will do me till tomorrow morning, I never snack.

[BeStill]

Started out making sure I was under 20 net carbs, I naturally rarely even hit 12-15 total carbs now as my food list and appetite for certain things has changed.

[David_Stilley]

Keto Is This Easy

Keto is this easy (aka Keto for beginners) Quick Version This is for Phase One—the starter phase. It’s still not complicated later, but this is the really easy-to-explain version which will help you no end. Eat under 20g of carbs a day (usually 20g net when starting, but for some people 20g total carbs works better). Don’t worry about the scale. All it tells you is weight, it tells you nothing about body composition, even the “smart” scales. Eat plenty of good food—fat and protein—whil…

You don’t have to do what I do, it’s what works for me and I keep mixing it up too.

[Momof5]

I keep my carbs at 20 grams or less, and have lots of proteins and fats (sometimes going over on both of those) and make sure I get enough calories. I had a stall when I wasn’t eating enough calories, so make sure you eat enough but keep your carbs 20 grams or less =).

[Marlitharn]

I started in March aiming for under 100 carbs. I soon found that this was easy, and most days I was well under 50, so I did a little more tweaking and got it under 20.

Some days I go over by a few. Some days I’m under 5. Most of the time I’m between 15-20. I cook all my meals at home and stick to meats and dairy with some veg, but I’m not going to stress about it too much, because for me this is a lifetime WOE and life sometimes includes special occasions involving small amounts of cake.

[amwassil]

I started sub-20 grams per day. At first it was difficult, but became easier as I got accustomed to finding low/no carb options. I’ve kept sub-20 grams and frequently hit 10-15 and once in a while sub-10. It is not difficult. I did not ‘ease’ into keto. I went on a 4-day water fast. I wanted to make the transition quick and easy. It only hurts on day 2.

[SomeGuy]

Started at less than 20, one year later still less than 20, when I get where I am going (dead) I will still be less than 20.

@David_Stilley Ha! good one

(Since I’m replying, I’ll respond to the OP’s question: Having cut out all extraneous carbs - other than trace amounts in salads and meats/eggs/cheese/etc - this has worked out to under 20g/day too.)

[Blessings]

Your post has been quite helpful. Since, I am new to Keto, I am still trying to figure my daily eating out with making adjustment here and there. I’m sure at some point I will get more comfortable knowing what and how much to eat. Thanks for sharing!

[Blessings]

Thanks for the advice!

[Blessings]

I was trying to do 14 or 15, but bumped it up a tad yesterday. I’m just so use to eating less fat in my diet and more carbs, that since it has only been 2 weeks, I am trying to switch it to the opposite, while trying to figure out different food choices. I don’t want to eat so much fatty foods, that I see so many eat in one day, because I worry about long term affects, with artery issues or high cholesterol. I have a couple family members who ate such high fats in their diets daily and one has severe high tryglicerides, (I think it was that), the other had a clogged artery and ended up with a triple by-pass because of their high fat (bad fatty foods) diet. I am trying to add more healthier fats from avacodos and other food choices. I’m sure I’ll figure it out over time. Everyones advice has been wonderful.

[PaulL]

I did go as low as 14, but that was killing me. I couldn’t even find foods to eat barely, that would give me my nutrition and I felt so bad.

I find this hard to understand. With all that lovely meat and cheese to eat, I find it very easy to refrain from eating carbohydrate. (Except when my sugar addiction kicks in, of course, but that has nothing to do with hunger or appetite.)

I find that as long as my carbohydrate intake is as low as I can keep it (I do enjoy my broccoli and cauliflower!), I can eat till I’m no longer hungry, and the fat I lost simply doesn’t come back. And even though I eat a lot of saturated and monounsaturated fat, my cholesterol numbers are perfect, and my inflammation markers stay in the normal range, because I no longer eat vegetable oil, with all its inflammatory polyunsaturated fats.

It’s also really nice to be able to trust my appetite and not have to calculate calories or macros (beyond making sure I don’t get too much carbohydrate). It messes with my mind to try to do all those calculations.

I don’t want to eat so much fatty foods, that I see so many eat in one day, because I worry about long term affects, with artery issues or high cholesterol.

One thing we are discovering is that what affects triglycerides and LDL in a bad way is eating carbohydrate. In fact, eating saturated fat is pretty much the only way to raise your HDL (they were trying to develop a drug to do that, but the side effects were so unpleasant that the pharmaceutical company gave up on it). Furthermore, it has been shown in recent research that the heart muscle is actually healthier when it burns β-hydroxybutyrate, the principal ketone body (β-hydroxybutyrate requires less oxygen to metabolise, so it is especially helpful in situations where the coronary arteries can’t deliver enough oxygen to the heart for glucose metabolism to work well).

More and more researchers are questioning the lipid hypothesis of heart disease, because it was never satisfactorily backed up by research in the first place. I’ve made up my mind not to worry about my cholesterol numbers at all, no matter what they do.

[Blessings]

I love cheese! I just started liking cauliflower, in fact I’m going to try and make some cauliflower rice tonight. Never had it that way. Your information is great.